


Summoning

by wastefulreverie



Series: PhannieMay Shots 2018 [11]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Casper High, Drama, Gen, Ghost King Danny, GhostKing!Danny, High School, Minor Character(s), Summoning, Suspense, Wish Gone Wrong, Wishes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2019-09-30 22:39:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17232536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wastefulreverie/pseuds/wastefulreverie
Summary: Out of anyone at Casper High, Star, Lester, and Elliot were three of the least likely people to ever work together. Yet, despite all odds, the trio found themselves anxiously preparing a summoning ritual in Casper High's basement.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for day 12 of PhannieMay 2018, callback: the selection of any previous PhannieMay theme. "Summoning" is Day 26 for PhannieMay 2016.

 

The three anxious figures sat on the cold, dusty floor of Casper High's basement, eyeing each other warily. They were sitting in a triangular formation, all surrounding a sketchy chalk sigil on the floor lined with sickly, odorous candles purchased from the Skulk and Lurk. The light from the candles cast cryptic shadows onto their faces, intensifying the already abhorrently somber mood.

The first figure of the trio, Lester, spoke first. “A – are we sure we want to this? We don't really know what we're doing here, a – and it might be _really_ dangerous! What if we get hurt or – or-”

“We don't really have a choice,” the second one of them, Star, declared boldly. “We screwed up, pretty badly, and according to that weird box man, this 'Ghost King' is the only person who can help us.”

“But, we don't know i – if he'll be okay around humans,” Lester reasoned. “After all, the last Ghost King invaded the city and sent us all to die in another dimension!”

“I don't like _any_ of this ghost stuff, and I'm gonna be honest: all of you Amity Park people are nuts for sticking around here!” Elliot, previously known as Gregor, seethed. Today, he donned a varsity jacket in lieu of his goth guise. “But... Star's right. We made a big mistake, and even _I_ recognize that what we did was really wrong. So if this King or whatever can help us, I'm in for it.”

Star made a 'tsking' noise, “Sorry, Lester. It's two against one. And if we don't do this, what would we have done? Do you really want to live with our screw-up for the rest of your life? It's already bad enough as it is.”

“This Ghost King is the only person who can hopefully save us,” Elliot agreed.

Lester slid his hand against his face before giving a resigned sigh. “Fine,” he said in a small voice. “You guys are sort of right, but you have to admit that there's a _lot_ that could go wrong.”

“If something goes wrong, I'm sure Phantom will save us,” Star said confidently.

“He's a ghost. Wouldn't he, y'know, have to obey the king too?” Lester argued.

“Guys, stop fighting and let's just do this already!” Elliot proclaimed impatiently.

“Alright,” Star resumed. “According to this weird book you had, Elliot, all three of us have to say the incantation at the same time for the summoning to work. I printed out a copy for each of us.”

She handed her two accomplices two separate scripts.

“Is this Latin?” Lester squinted at the text. “I don't know if I can even say this.”

“Well, practice it under your breath so you don't say it wrong,” Elliot deadpanned. “It'd suck to summon the wrong ghost or something from a different dimension.”

“Wait, are there different dimensions?” Lester's eyes widened.

“Hell, like I'd know,” he rolled his eyes. “I only posed as a goth for a year, I'm not that smart.”

The three of them read the incantation a several times in their head until they all felt confident with their recitation. Seeing no reason to further postpone, the trio finally put the final preparation in order to proceed with the summoning.

“Alright,” Star said, “we'll all say it on the count of three, agree?”

“Yep,” Lester nodded, still visibly nervous.

“Let's get this over with,” Elliot groaned.

“Three... two... one....” The three teenagers spoke in perfect unison, _“_ _De industria mortuorum et gratia, qua invocaverimus te petitionem, Ghost King, vocamus tibi de interitiónibus eórum!”_

The first change in the room was very subtle. As soon as they finished the incantation, the temperature slowly plummeted at least ten degrees, before the candles surrounding the chalk sigil on the floor blazed with at least three times more intensity. A gust of air threatened to push each of them backwards, before changing direction and spiraling into a visible funnel of wind in the center of their circle. In the eye of the small cyclone a cluster of green lightning originated, quickly expanding and forking outwards. The trio of teens sat paralyzed at the immense display, and only moved backwards when the lightning flashed rapidly, forming the vague silhouette of a ghost. Slowly, the form of the ghost materialized, and the lightning and wind vanished, leaving only a solid figure in the center of the now dimly lit basement.

Star, Lester, and Elliot were undertaken by unforeseen surprise as the figure made it's identity immediately known. They exchanged equally confused glances when they realized that what they had summoned wasn't a ghost, nor any kind of king, but a seemingly normal human boy. Not just any boy, but their infamously weak classmate, Danny Fenton.

He was crouched down on his knees, wearing a slightly overlarge NASA shirt and tattered jeans. As usual, there were dark circles under his eyes, tainting his unnervingly pale complexion and there were a few spotty bruises along his arms, presumably from Dash Baxter, but none of that was out of the ordinary. All in all, the kid looked a little disoriented, but there was no doubt in the trio's mind that it was still him. And it didn't make sense.

The spell was specifically supposed to summon a ghost, the ghost king himself! And Danny Fenton, who was notoriously afraid of ghosts, was clearly  _ not _ one! Nothing added up!

“Ugh,” Danny groaned, not yet noticing the three boggled teenagers, and apparently talking to himself. “That felt  _ weird _ . That's like the third time this month too....” he looked up from where he'd been 'summoned' and instantly spotted Star, Lester, and Elliot staring at him in perplexed terror.

His expression equally rivaled their state of surprise. “Oh...  _ shit _ . This uh... isn't what it looks like! Uh – how much did you guys... how much do you know? Besides, why are the three of you  _ together _ ?”

“We don't owe you any kind of explanation, Fenton!” Elliot spat, defensively. “We were trying to summon the Ghost King and instead we got your freaky ass! So what the hell?!”

“A – are  _ you _ the Ghost King?” Lester whimpered in fear.

“Fenton's not a ghost, geekwad,” Star frowned. “But something is reeeallly wrong here. And Elliot's right, you owe  _ us _ an explanation, freak!”

“Don't yell at him!” Lester protested. “What if he's dangerous!”

“Danny Fenton is  _ not _ dangerous! He's just a grade-A loser!”

“But – all the lightning and wind and – and-”

“You're not helping, Lester!”

“Will all of you just SHUT-UP?!” Danny cried. If only for a moment, their smallest fears were confirmed when Danny's eyes glowed a fluorescent green, before subsequently returning back to their normal baby blue. “I... you say you summoned the Ghost King, right?”

All three of them nodded with new-found silent fear.

Danny thoughtlessly rubbed against the back of his neck, “Well I, um, you can't tell anyone about what I'm about to tell you, promise?”

“How do we know you're not gonna lie to us?” Elliot challenged.

“You don't. Unless you can think of something that makes more sense,” Danny replied, keeping his composure open. “But, you guys can not, under  _ any _ circumstances tell anyone. Not Paulina,” he looked to Star, “not Mikey,” he gestured to Lester, “and you can't post it on the Internet like a douchebag,” this was thrown at Elliot. “Oh, and not even my parents can know.  _ No one _ .”

“F – fine. Please don't hurt us,” Lester pleaded, still convinced Danny was hostile.

“I'm not gonna – oh, whatever,” Danny shrugged, seeming unaffected instead of his internal panicked mindset. “Anyway, the thing you absolutely can't tell anyone is that sometimes I help the Ghost King. I know him personally, and I'm sworn to secrecy, so I can't tell you who he is. If my parents ever found out I was connected to some ghost, they would  _ kill _ me, and for everyone's safety I have to make sure that no civilians know as well. But how it works is...” he paused, coming up with a reasonable story, “I pretend to be afraid of ghosts, but I'm actually just getting more information on them for the Ghost King. You could call me an informant. Like, I just keep tabs on the ghosts that attack the human world like Skulker, Technus, Johnny 13, oh! – and Phantom too.”

“Nice story,” Elliot crossed his arms. He was pretending not to be scared of Danny, but in truth, everything odd about the boy he'd never noticed was starting to unnerve him, starting with how his eyes had flashed green moments earlier. “But how does that explain the fact that you appeared out of thin air, when you're not even a ghost?”

“Well, the Ghost King can't control if he's summoned or not, but he can send somebody in his place?” Danny answered, weakly. However, the perturbed teenagers didn't notice his slight contending tone and seemed to accept his faulty explanation. “So... uh, why were you trying to summon the Ghost King anyway?”

“You're not him, so why does it matter,” Star stated. “He's the only one who can help us with our problem.”

“I'm his informant, remember? I can tell him, and then he can help you,” Danny said. “I promise. You get it, right, Lester?” he called upon the weakest link of the group.

“Well, uh...” the boy stammered. “It's a p – problem with another g – ghost.”

“What kind of problem?” Danny pressed.

“Said her name was Desiree,” Elliot explained. “She grants anyone's wishes. And the three of us... sort of made the same wish.”

“I know Desiree,” he nodded. “Usually the results of her wishes are really obvious. What did she do? What did you wish?”

Lester gulped nervously, while Star and Elliot shared skittish glances.

“Nobody remembers but us,” Star began. “There's this kid in our grade, and he's like super annoying. He wouldn't stop asking me out, over and over and over-”

“He humiliated me in front of all my friends because I thought World of Warcraft was a movie series instead of a video game! I'm not a geek, I'm just a nerd. I don't  _ do _ video games,” Lester explained. “But this guy... he just kept rubbing it in my face like he was salting a wound.”

“He ruined my chances with your friend, Sam,” Elliot growled. “If it wasn't for him sabotaging all our dates with his stupid commentary and gross vibes disrupting our romance, I totally would've gotten her to fall for me.”

“Ew,” Danny said reflexively. He looked threateningly at Elliot. “Sam's my best-friend, don't talk about her that way.”

“Yeah, Elliot,” Star hissed, smacking the white-haired boy in the arm. “Shut- _ up _ . So, where were we?”

“The three of us were running away from a ghost attack,” Lester said. “So we hid in this alley together. Thanks to Phantom, we ended up being trapped there for a while because a bunch of debris blocked the exit... and then...” he got a spacey look on his face, “we started talking about how we all hated that guy from school.”

“It was an accident,” Star said quickly. “We didn't know Desiree was still around! But she heard us and someone said 'I wish' and... and....”

All of them seemed to have trouble to continue the story. Elliot looked down, admittedly ashamed.

“He got wiped completely from existence,” Elliot finished quietly. “It's like nobody even remembers he existed. I mean, I didn't like him, but... what we did was practically murder.”

The other two remained silent.

“Who was he?” Danny asked, softly. He'd made plenty of mistakes with Desiree before, and if the wish wasn't automatically reversed when she was captured in the thermos, things were usually pretty bad. Not irreversible, but still bad.

Moments later, Star looked at him with teary eyes and gave a reluctant reply.

“His name was Tucker Foley... he was... your best-friend. You have to get him back,  _ please _ , Danny. Tell the Ghost King to help, we  _ beg _ you.”

Suddenly, things got a lot more complicated.

 

 

 


	2. Reversal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star and Elliot decide that they want Danny to take them with him to the Ghost King.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Day Four of PhannieMay 2019, Wishes.

"His name was Tucker Foley…" Star looked down, tears clouding in her eyes, "he was… your best-friend. You have to get him back, _please_ , Danny. Tell the Ghost King to help, we _beg_ you."

Well, that sure made things a lot more complicated for Danny. It was just one of those things that he thought he had learned to expect at this point, but still was taken off-guard each and every time. Desiree erasing some best-friend he never had? That wasn't where he expected today to go, but why _not_ at this point? He'd already died, came back as a hybrid, somehow became a superhero, and inherited an entire dimension.

"So let me get this straight?" he asked to confirm. "Supposedly instead of Sam, I have _another_ guy best friend that you guys just wiped out of existence?" the three of them looked guilty and Lester almost squeaked when he made eye contact with Danny. "Are you sure?"

Elliot's steely voice masked his nervousness, "If we weren't sure," he accused, "would any of us be here?"

"Yeah, but…" Danny trailed off, looking for the right words. "It's always been Sam and I. Ever since sixth grade. But…"

The idea of what they were telling him was still pretty wild, all things considered. Apparently he had some other best-friend besides Sam. Did this Tucker guy know that Danny was Phantom? How exactly close were they? Or was 'best-friend' just an exaggeration on Star's behalf? If he really did have a second best friend, Danny doubted that he would be able to keep his secret from him, so he had to just assume that this Tucker dude knew about it too.

Star, Lester, and Elliot watched Danny patiently, a shadow of fear in their eyes. They were afraid of how he would react, but honestly Danny didn't know how he felt. He didn't know Tucker Foley personally, he didn't have a reason to be upset that he was gone. But the idea that Desiree had erased a soul from existence was definitely _not_ okay. He should enraged, aghast, and upset over what she had done, but instead he just sort of felt… numb.

After all, he was the Ghost King, so getting Desiree to reverse one wish shouldn't be difficult with his status. But that didn't really explain the apathy he felt over the existence of someone who was supposedly close to him. Maybe it was a side effect of the wish? Who knew? Or maybe… maybe these three were pulling his leg.

But then again, it wasn't the first time that something like this had happened with Desiree. There had been that time when Sam wished that they had never met and as a result he lost his powers. Things had felt weird then, too. And from what Star, Lester, and Elliot had done, he didn't have any concrete reason to doubt them. They were just trying to resolve their mistake.

"Danny?" Star finally asked, pulling him out of his reverie. "Are - are you mad?"

He almost jumped at her voice but he thought better of himself. "No," he shook his head. "I - I believe you and I'm not mad. This isn't the first time I've been in the middle of one of Desiree's wishes. To fix it, we just have to find her and get her to reverse it."

Lester looked at Danny as if he'd grown two heads. For a moment, he was partially self conscious, wondering if growing two heads was some kind of Ghost King thing. Then Danny realized how ridiculous that sounded and resolved that worry. "'We'?" Lester quoted skeptically. "I thought you said that the Ghost King was going to fix it."

Well, since Danny _was_ the Ghost King, he'd meant that he was going to be the one to resolve it, not any of them. It was just a moment of misspeaking.

"Yeah," Danny rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm the one who has to go and tell him to fix it, so that's sorta what I meant. He'll take care of it, don't worry."

Elliot narrowed his eyes, obviously scrutinizing the 'Ghost King's human helper'. Danny felt a pang of worry under Elliot's glare; he was someone who was skilled in deception and lying. Someone like him would easily be able to spot when a story didn't add up. And Danny wasn't flawless, there were definitely some holes in his explanation.

"I'll go with you to tell him, then," Elliot declared suddenly. "After all, I'm part of the problem, so I should make up for it."

Danny saw what he was doing. He was trying to insert himself into this situation so he could ensure that Danny was telling the truth. After all, if he had any reason to think that Danny _couldn't_ solve his problem, Elliot was sorta entitled to involve himself. And it's not like Danny had exhibited a lot of trust. Asking to tag along wasn't necessarily bad, but since Danny _was_ lying, he couldn't really allow Elliot to find out that he was the Ghost King.

"I can't really let you do that," Danny answered, probably much too quickly. "The Ghost King, well, he doesn't really like having audiences with humans that he doesn't know," he lied. "It's just kind of a rule…."

The trio shared an incomprehensible look. Star crossed her arms, "But doesn't the Ghost King trust you? A _human_ ," she pointed out, jabbing her thumb towards his chest. "I kinda want to go too," she added. "After all, we're the ones who got ourselves into this mess. I can't just trust you blindly, because for all _I_ know you could make it worse! You don't exactly have the best rep, _Fenton_."

"Wow, _thanks_ ," Danny rolled his eyes. As if he didn't know Casper High's overall opinion of his human form. "I still don't think it's a good idea, whether you trust me or not. The Ghost King…" he hated referring to himself as some malevolent ruler, but he didn't really have a choice, "he can be _unpredictable_. You don't know him like I do."

Star tilted her head, seeing if Elliot or Mikey wanted to speak up. Elliot was silently fuming and Lester was still trying not to have a panic attack. When neither spoke, Star smirked. "If you know him so well, then couldn't I just tell your parents? Good old Maddie and Jack Fenton… at the Fenton Hotline, '1-888-FENTONS'? That's what all their flyers around town say, I think…. Just _one call_ and they'll find out that their precious little Danny is friends with the Ghost King." She raised her hand to her cheek. "Now that'd be a shame, wouldn't it?"

Danny paled. Star had found his weak point. Sure, he was practically undead royalty with legions of ghosts and spirits at his command, but nothing quite scared him like his parents finding out. He couldn't risk Mom and Dad learning that he was even _associated_ with the Ghost King, because from there it could easily snowball.

"You wouldn't…" he exhaled slowly.

" _Bet_ ," Elliot backed her up.

"There's nothing I do better than ratting people to their parents," she agreed. "So unless you want that to happen, I'd consider letting us come with you."

Danny swallowed. That was a pretty solid threat, not one he could get out of easily. There was really no way of preventing her from calling his parents since phones were readily available everywhere and she already knew their hotline number. The only way he could hope to keep his parents from finding out about him being 'friends' with the Ghost King was to surrender to Star. Which was risky considering all that could go wrong. They could find out that Danny was Phantom, they could find out that Phantom was the Ghost King, they could find out that Danny (supposedly human) was the Ghost King... or they could learn everything. It didn't look promising, but what choice did he have?

He sighed, "Fine… you can come with. But you'll have to listen to me the entire time; the Ghost Zone is a complex place and unless you know what you're doing it's pretty dangerous. It's probably too late today," it wasn't, but Danny needed time to plan, "so you guys can meet me at my house tomorrow. Tell my parents it's for a group project and they'll buy it. Also, since we're going to the Ghost Zone, jackets are heavily recommended."

"Good," Star nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Ugh, your _house_?" Danny saw the usual look of apprehension whenever someone talked about Fenton Works. "Well, if it means this entire thing will be fixed and over…."

"You guys are seriously doing that?" Lester spoke up for the first time in minutes, staring at Star and Elliot with looks of abject terror. "Ju - just _going_ into other dimensions with tons of dangerous _ghosts_!"

"Its not like the entire town _hasn't_ been there before," Star pointed out.

"Besides, if Fenton goes all the time, it can't be that dangerous," Elliot quipped.

"You three have fun, but count me _out_ ," Lester declared. "I'd rather stay alive than be killed at the mercy of some King."

Well, at least Danny only had to fool two classmates instead of three.

* * *

Once Danny left Casper High's basement, he made sure that he was far away from any prying eyes before he transformed in the janitor's closet. He had to find a solution, and quickly. As Fenton, he had to take two humans to meet the Ghost King - _him_ \- without them finding out that he was a ghost, the king, or Phantom. He also didn't want anyone to know Phantom was the Ghost King, so he couldn't just duplicate his ghost form. He had to bring in a third party to pretend to be the king, that way neither Fenton nor Phantom were accused of being king.

And… he only had less than a day to figure out a plan. _Great, just great._

Normally he'd take the less tiring route home and fly, but Danny was anxious. He needed to go home, _now_. So, he closed his eyes and let his surroundings melt away - envisioning that he was in his room rather than a broom closet. With a forceful tug of his core, he was teleported a few feet above his bed. He floated down onto the mattress, and transformed back into Fenton. Teleportation was convenient, but it drained his energy levels a lot so it wasn't really practical to use in any fights yet.

"Sam," he muttered to himself. "Gotta call Sam."

He was at a loss. He didn't know what to do and he needed to vent. Sam usually had good ideas about these sorts of things, she could usually orchestrate some sort of risky scheme. Even though he was a king, he was still only a fighter; unlike Sam, he didn't know shit about strategy.

He found his phone and clicked on her contact, impatiently waiting for her to pick up his call.

"Hey, Danny," Sam answered. "So I got a call from Jazz? She said you completely ditched her at the grocery store." Oh right, that's what he'd been doing before he was suddenly summoned into the basement… Since the fridge got contaminated again, Mom had tasked him and Jazz to buy some new food while she fought off the ecto-eggs and killer-milk. That was something else that slipped his mind; he really hoped that no bystanders had seen him disappear into thin air.

"Right… I actually forgot about Jazz," he suddenly realized. His sister knew his secrets, so she probably wasn't _that_ worried, but… "I'll pop in and explain things to her once I update you. I _really_ need your advice." So from there, he told her about how the Ghost King had been summoned by Star, Lester, and Elliot because they wanted him to reverse one of Desiree's wishes. He left out what the wish was, not wanting to delve into the complicated details of apparently one of his friends _not existing_. He then explained his problem about how Danny Fenton was going to take them to meet the Ghost King without Phantom being revealed as the king.

"Yeah… that's a tricky one," Sam groaned. "Man, only _your_ life would be that complicated. Having to keep three separate identities…."

" _Tell me about it_ ," he rolled his eyes habitually.

Sam laughed, "So, what I think you should do - just an idea - is have a stand-in king. Choose someone that you can trust pretend to be the Ghost King. You'll bring Star and Elliot to visit him and he'll… bring in his best fighter, Phantom, to go and reprimand Desiree."

"So I'll duplicate myself, the Ghost King will tell Phantom to go get Desiree, and Fenton will stay with Star and Elliot?"

"I mean, that way you can still go punish Desiree as the king without letting Star and Elliot know that you are the king," she clarified.

"Yeah, that could work… plenty of room for things to go wrong, but it seems thorough enough. I can probably talk my way out of it if things _really_ go south. The only problem is finding a ghost trustworthy enough to pretend to be king. Someone who's probably a good actor too…."

"So… are we looking for a ghost who doesn't care about power but can still lie through their teeth?" Danny asked rhetorically.

"You have one in mind." Sam said rather than asked.

"I'm pretty sure," Danny affirmed. "I'll probably have to go to the Ghost Zone tonight to find them, though. Could you cover for me with my parents if I don't get back before curfew?"

"Of course, _my liege_ ," she joked.

He snorted. "That's _King_ Phantom to you."

She paused for a moment, and he wondered if she hadn't got the joke. It was Sam though, and she usually got his jokes.

"Well, sorry _my King Phantom_ ," when she spoke, he heard movement in the background, "but my Mom's screaming about dinner. I gotta go. Is there anything else you need help with though? We can text about it while I pretend to listen to my parents at the table."

She knew him too well. She sensed reluctance in his explanation and had figured out that there was something else going on; the entire situation with Tucker Foley. He didn't know what to say to her. It's not like he could just tell her, 'Oh, yeah - I apparently have another best friend and Star, Lester, and Elliot wished that he didn't exist!' That'd go over just _swell_. If he was having trouble processing the implications of another friend being a part of his life, _she_ would totally freak out.

"Nah, I think I'm good. And I should probably go keep up appearances with my family," he paused, "let them know I'm not _dead_."

She didn't have to laugh for him to know she thought it was funny. "I think you're a little too late for that one, Danny. Call me if anything comes up." She didn't sound entirely convinced that he was alright, but at least she let it go. "I'll take to you later."

"Bye," he replied, hanging up her call. He dropped his phone onto his bed and groaned. This entire thing was going to take some work to pull off, but he'd do it. Every king needs a fair amount of trials to keep him on his toes, right?

 _All that matters is that my secret stays safe and I reverse_ that wish.

* * *

Danny woke up late that morning. The first thing that he heard was the doorbell ringing, a loud "I'll get it, sweetie! Those ghosts will learn not to ring Jack Fenton's doorbell!", and then two consecutive screams.

In other words, an average morning in the Fenton household.

And then, Danny realized who was screaming: Star and Elliot. Because he had invited them to his house so all three of them could go visit the 'Ghost King'. _Oh_. And he was still in bed and his Dad was probably bombarding them-

Danny quickly phased out of his pajamas, found some clothes on the floor (a Dumpty Humpty hoodie and jeans), and clamored down the stairs like his feet were on fire. By the time he made it to the door, his dad was lowering his weapon in disappointment, Star was still struggling to pick her jaw off the floor, and Elliot was eyeing the living room like he was afraid more threats were going to jump out at him at any moment. And honestly, Elliot probably wasn't wrong.

"Are these friends from school Danno?" Jack asked, noticing his son's frantic arrival.

"Yeah…" Danny heaved, out of breath from the stairs, " _-project_."

"Oh, that's great!" Jack smiled. He dropped his weapon next to the coat rack, and stood out of the doorway. "Danny hasn't had anyone over since Spooky Girl's parents let her stop coming-"

"-Sam, Dad. Her name's _Sam_."

"-so this'll be fun! You kids can come inside and take a seat on the couch and I'll have Maddie make some fudge! It's the best. We got the fridge decontaminated, right Danno?"

"Yeah, Dad," Danny nodded. Star and Elliot were watching their conversation with wide eyes. Danny figured he should get his dad out of their business before Mom came in. "But uh, I was thinking we could go upstairs and work? I have a lot of the stuff we need in my room and I feel like it'd be more productive."

Jack deflated a bit, but his smile never left his face, "Oh, alright then! You kids have fun! Feel free to come down and hang out any time. Mads and I are always up for giving tours of the lab too! Ghosts _are_ our thing, after all!"

Ignoring Jack's spiel, Danny managed to usher their two guests up the stairs. "Yeah. Thanks, Dad!" he called. He turned the corner and dragged Star and Elliot into his bedroom and locked the door behind them. Ignoring the fact that it was a complete mess, Danny straightened the blanket on his bed and gestured for them to sit. Neither Star nor Elliot moved.

"I thought we were going down to your parents' lab," Star crossed her arms. "Or is the portal to the ghost world in your closet?"

Danny looked nervously between her and his door. "Don't say the _g-word_ so loud. Dad's still downstairs…."

"What are we doing then, _space_ geek?" Elliot quipped, mocking some of Danny's model rockets that were strewn around. "Man, you're such a dork. You even have those glow and the dark kiddie stars on your ceiling."

"They're not _just_ for kids," Danny rolled his eyes.

Star shrugged, "I think they're cool."

Both Danny and Elliot gawked at her; Star never agreed with a geek. Once she realized what she had said, Star blushed, "I like space stuff too. Everyone just sorta buys me star-related stuff because of my name. I've learned to like it because of that."

"Understandable," Danny conceded.

Elliot scoffed, "Well, anyway. We didn't come here to look at your spacey room. What about reversing that wish?"

"Oh, yeah," Danny said. "Gimme a second. I gotta get my parents out of the house before we can sneak into the lab. It's just easier that way…."

He stumbled over some jeans on the floor and picked his phone up from his night stand. He scrolled through his texts and sent Sam a quick message. Not fifteen seconds later, the home phone downstairs rang. They pulled this trick with his parents a lot, so he knew she'd follow through with it. All Sam had to do was pretend to be a 'citizen in distress' and tell the Fentons that a ghost was causing trouble across town. It worked every time like a charm, a surefire way to get his parents out of the lab.

"What was that about?" Elliot asked haughtily.

"Wait for it," Danny told him. There was a pause, and suddenly there were sounds of crashing footsteps, guns powering up, and the front door slammed with a resounding finality. "They're gone now. The lab's all ours. I'll leave a note on the table saying we went to the library for them to see when they get back." He opened his door and began back down the stairs.

"And they won't find that the least bit suspicious?" Star asked, almost… impressed?

"Nope! They'll be too busy to really wonder about it."

"Dude," Elliot commented, "your parents make sneaking out _really_ easy. No wonder you skip class all the time."

"Well, uh - that's-" Danny gulped. "That's still something they're trying to stop. But when duty calls, I gotta help the Ghost King."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's _top priority_ ," Elliot rolled his eyes.

 _If only he knew_. "Pretty much," Danny didn't even bother to look back at him. He scrawled a quick note for his parents' return and led his accomplices down to the lab. "Don't touch anything," he warned. He could feel their eyes wandering around the room, eyeing the dangerous scraps of technology and nearby dangerous chemicals. He knew firsthand how nasty some of this stuff was; he'd half-died down here, after all.

He stopped at the back wall of the lab. There wasn't much there except for the control panel for the portal and a large object under a tarp. He threw off the tarp and revealed the Specter Speeder, Star and Elliot's ride into the Ghost Zone. Unlike him, they couldn't fly so this was their only means of transportation.

"We're going to the Ghost Zone… in _that_?" Star asked, regarding the Speeder skeptically.

"Yeah. And before you ask, it's perfectly safe." Danny stopped and smirked, "I'm like fifty percent sure that there's another oxygen for all three of us."

"Wha - fifty percent?" Elliot choked. "Are you trying to get us killed?"

Danny sniggered. "Take a joke, dude. This thing is state of the art - tons of emergency systems, defenses, and plenty of air. We're going to be fine." He opened the door for them to step in.

Star sighed and gave in, hoisting herself into the vehicle, "Just know that if I die in this thing," she warned, "my parents are _totally_ suing you."

"If _I_ die I'm coming back to haunt you," Elliot decided, following Star.

"I'll look forward to it, then," Danny said, taking the driver's seat and closing the door after him.

* * *

Danny thought that after they passed through the portal safely, that Star and Elliot would stop panicking. He was unfortunately mistaken. Star kept clutching onto the dashboard and Elliot kept loudly tapping his foot to express his anxiety. Their fear felt strong; he normally tuned out his emotional sensory abilities in the human world, but here in the Ghost Zone they felt much more concentrated.

"Do you have a driver's license, Fenton?" Star wondered after about five minutes into their journey.

He felt like she already the answer but humored her anyway, "No _pe_."

She opened her mouth to try and respond but didn't say much else for the remainder of the flight. Elliot couldn't bring himself to insult Danny either. Danny was almost tempted to pull some kind of stunt to mess with them, but he figured that he should probably stick to the plan. He was already taking a bunch of risks today, it'd suck to screw it all up before it began by doing something incredibly stupid. Like crashing the speeder and having to save Star and Elliot with his powers. That was definitely a scenario he'd like to avoid.

So, he stuck to the route to Pariah's Keep, which was technically Phantom's Keep now - but everyone still kind of called it Pariah's. It wasn't too far away from the Fenton Portal, but Danny was deliberately driving slower than usual so that his passengers wouldn't panic. Overall, it took fifteen minutes to arrive at the king's palace (he could usual fly there in three). Danny parked on the ledge that founded his palace and ushered Star and Elliot out.

"This is… wow," Star gasped, taking in the full environment. The green sky churned darkly around them, ectoplasm dripping into cloud-like masses. Pariah's Keep loomed above them, a dark red monument that resembled a medieval castle, yet even more primitive. Danny had been trying to update his palace a bit, make it more modern, but there was little he could do outside of tearing the whole place down.

Gravity defying towers jutted out of the side of the castle, only the lack of physics within the Ghost Zone supported them. There were rows of paned windows that were far too dark to see through, but added mystique to the eerie design of the castle. There weren't any doors, just open archways for ghosts to float through without any hassle. Lastly, the entire construct was enveloped with its own white aura. When Pariah ruled, the castle's aura had been green, but now that it belonged to Danny, it glowed white instead.

Truthfully, even though the Keep was his now, it didn't feel that way. Amity Park was his home, his lair. When he was in Amity, he felt compelled to protect his property and had subconscious connection to it. But his palace didn't feel like that. In a sense, if Pariah's Keep was _truly_ his now, then shouldn't it also feel like his lair?

"Yeah," he told Star, "kinda extravagant, right?"

Elliot huffed. "I've seen cooler mini golf castles." With his heightened emotional sensory, Danny felt Elliot's internal awe be pushed under a guise of nonchalance.

"Whatever you say," Danny responded coolly, leading them towards the castle's entrance. As they approached closer, skeletal members of the king's guard became visible in front of the main archway. And this point, Star and Elliot fell behind him, walking in his shadow. Clearly not wanting to draw attention to themselves in front of the spectral guards.

When the guards saw Danny, they momentarily abandoned their guarding stance and bowed in respect. He scowled. He hated when they did that regularly and it probably didn't look any better in front of two already suspicious classmates.

Danny put his hand out and dismissed them. They returned to their stance.

Elliot creeped from behind him, shooting Danny a look. "Do they uh, bow to everyone?"

Danny took a beat longer than he should have to reply, "... yes."

Star shuddered. "Creepy," she whispered.

One of the skeletal ghosts (Clerval, if Danny could remember correctly) stepped forward. " **My king** ," he thankfully addressed in ghost speak. " **Why do you appear with human accomplices?** "

Right… Danny'd only brought Sam into the Ghost Zone before. Jazz had always found an excuse not to come, which was okay with him. He figured that the presence of two unidentified humans _would_ be concerning for a guard. Praying he used the correct dialect, Danny switched to ghost speak. " **They are with me. For today only, please notify other royal staff that I am not to be addressed as your king. I am incognito.** "

The ghost nodded, eyeing his other guards warily. " **Understood, my… Phantom?** "

Danny almost rolled his eyes. _Close enough_.

"Y - you _talked_ to that thing?" Star gasped. "How did you…?"

Elliot's eyes were also the size of saucers. "You can speak in ghost speak?"

Danny shifted uncomfortably. He forgot that speaking to ghosts was probably beyond Danny Fenton's supposed abilities. "Uh, yeah… I kinda just picked it up after a while? It gets under your skin." Not a complete lie. He developed the ability when millions of volts of electricity crawled under his skin, changing him from the inside out.

"That's freaky, dude," Elliot said. "Your voice sounds _totally_ different. How-"

"I don't exactly know," Danny interrupted. "Okay? The king is probably waiting for us now, so let's go."

He dragged them into the castle, ignoring their consecutive rushes of fear. _Ancients_. They were really lucky that Danny only employed his royal staff with restrained ghosts, otherwise any hungry spirit wouldn't hesitate to feed on their negative emotions.

After about three minutes of trekking up some stairs, they reached the throne room. Inside, it was also red, but this red was much brighter than the castle's exterior. The ceilings were at least twenty feet tall, stretching into what appeared to be nothingness. Sourceless light illuminated the room, casting strange shadows onto nearby material objects.

More guards lined the walls, hovering idly. Their eyes traveled on Danny, sometimes flitting between him and his throne, odd looks of unease. He understood why; it's because the ghost that occupied his throne was certainly not him, and he was doing nothing about it. A buff, seven-foot-tall ghost with a potbelly lounged carelessly in Danny's custom-sculpted throne. He looked severly out of place considering his difference in stature from Danny; he was too big for the throne and was practically wedged into the chair.

Playing his role, Danny stopped several feet away from the ghost and bowed. This was an action that he observed often from his throne. "King Amorpho," he greeted. "I apologize for the intrusion."

"Oh, that's quite alright," Amorpho smiled slyly. "I'm a wonderful time here today and you've just made it much better, my loyal informant, Billy."

Struggling not to snort, Danny stood back up and straightened his back. He glanced at Star and whispered, "Inside joke."

"What is your purpose today?" Amorpho asked, maintaining his huge form and shifting his position on the throne. "Why do you bring two humans into my _very_ powerful presence, given that I am the _one and only_ glorious Ghost King!"

" **Don't get too comfortable up there** ," Danny quipped in ghost speak, hoping that Star nor Elliot would notice. Once Amorpho got the gist, Danny resumed their planned performance. "Oh, king. I have brought these two humans because they seek your assistance. They need to reverse a wish that Desiree has granted."

"A wish?" Amorpho asked, bringing his hand to his chin. He looked toward Star and Elliot. "Tell me, humans, why should I help you?"

They flustered under the pressure, but eventually Star managed to gain enough courage to respond. "Our wish erased someone we know from existence. And well, we didn't mean to do it."

"Basically," Danny sighed, providing a better explanation, "Desiree was meddling in the human world and managed to completely abort someone's soul from the timeline, which broke the seventh treaty of the Ancients, resulting in her second infraction under your rule."

Amorpho blinked stupidly, but continued. "Very well. Request granted. I will have someone fetch Desiree and bring her here for review."

"Thank you, my king," Danny amended. He elbowed Elliot in the ribs and he and Star echoed Danny's gratitude.

Now, the next part of the plan was going to be tricky. But Danny was prepared, all he had to do was focus on temporarily splitting his core and ensuring that his duplicate flew out of his body invisibly. He took a deep breath and…

"Now," Amorpho announced with false grandeur, "I summon my greatest fighter, Phantom, to act on my behalf and reprimand Desiree."

Just on time, Danny's duplicate appeared beside Amorpho. Danny noted that Phantom had the correct amount of limbs and was fully in ghost form, something that he often struggled with when he created duplicates. At Phantom's arrival, Star and Elliot gasped in surprise (along with a few of the guards across the room).

"My king," Phantom greeted. "I am to find Desiree?"

"Yes," Amorpho didn't waste any time with superfluous proceedings. "Bring her back here once you have her so she can reverse a wish."

"Yes, King Amorpho," Phantom nodded before vanishing from Pariah's Keep.

Danny sighed in relief. At least that part of their plan went okay, now they just had to wait for his duplicate to return with the culprit so she could reverse everything. Or, at least Danny thought. Not more then ten seconds later, Danny's ghost sense went off - which was odd since he was in the Ghost Zone. His ghost sense never went off in the Ghost Zone unless he subconsciously sensed someone threatening, which meant….

 _Oh no._ Not _them_. This entire plan was about to go down the drain, he could tell. It was only a matter of time now. He glanced around the room, looking for someway he could remedy this entire situation before it got out of hand.

Beside him, Star noticed Danny's sudden panic. "Danny, wha-"

"They're here," Danny muttered, accepting that there was no escape. " _Shit_. It wasn't supposed to be _today_."

Elliot caught on that something was up. "What wasn't-?"

There was movement near the entrance to the throne room. Danny turned in fright, knowing exactly who was about to float through the archway; three slender, one-eyed blobs dressed in formal robes entered the king's court. _The head Observants_. They dropped in from time to time to give Danny some shitty commands (that he usually avoided) and to act as his advisors since they also guided Pariah Dark. They didn't really have any real authority over him, but they had enough influence over other parts of the Ghost Zone that he couldn't really ignore them altogether.

"Who's-"

The Observants addressed their attention to the throne, ignore the side chatter of Phantom's court. They hadn't noticed that their king was on the floor yet, but it didn't take them long to realize that the ghost sitting on Phantom's throne was not the king. _Oh Clockwork_ , Danny realized, _Amorpho's going to be in so much trouble._

Amorpho's expression rivaled a deer in the headlights when the first Observant called out furiously, "Imposter!" and rallied his associates to shoot at the shapeshifter. Amorpho didn't have enough time to dodge, and was caught by one of the Observant's ectoblasts. The hit caused him to revert back into his default form: thin, grey, and faceless. Danny winced at the impact, while Star and Elliot gawked in terror at the 'Ghost King's' deflation in size.

The Observants surrounded Amorpho, who attempted to escape the three ghosts with no success. The second Observant growled, "Who _dares_ to sit upon the throne reserved only for the king!

The third Observant added, "Who dares to _impersonate_ the king!"

The first Observant ferociously threw himself forward and gripped Amorpho's face, staring down at him with his single, irritated eye. "We'll have you thrown into the eternal depths of Hades pocketed within Sector Eight for this blatant treachery, _filthy shapeshifter_."

Amorpho tried to protest, by the Observant's hold on his face prevented Amorpho from speaking. Danny had never seen a ghost use a silencing power before, but it was good to know that a power like that existed for the future.

"Disgusting traitor to the throne!" the third Observant spat.

Danny couldn't let this continue any longer. Amorpho was not in the wrong here, the Observants misunderstood. "Wait, _no_!" Danny cried. His voice echoed louder than any natural human's voice should echo, causing Star and Elliot to cover their ears. "I ordered him to! He did no treachery!"

Something, _Star_ , gripped his arm tightly. "Danny," she hissed frantically, "what are you doing!?"

Elliot mumbled feverishly under his breath loud enough for Danny to hear him, "What's going on? Who're those cyclopes dudes?"

Danny hushed at them, turning to face the Observants instead. The Observants, in turn, were baffled, their jaws dropping open in shock. The first Observant, comprehending Danny's words, released Amorpho. Scrambling away from his captor, Amorpho quickly fled from the room, wasting no time escaping. _Coward_.

Once the Observants came to their senses, they all pushed themselves to the physical floor of the throne room, bowing at Danny's feet. "King Phantom," they spoke in unison.

With a nervous glance towards Star and Elliot, Danny coughed. " **Rise** ," he switched to ghost speak. The Observants floated back into the air, looming about five feet over Danny.

"Explain this foolery," the first Observant reprimanded. "Why did you order a faceless wraith to take your place on the throne?"

The second Observant snarled, "Do you not take your job seriously?"

"And why do you assume your weak human form?" The third Observant spoke before Danny could even stop him.

"This is _unacceptable_!" the second Observant declared angrily.

Ignoring the two teenagers at his back, Danny growled. He was frustrated enough with these three and it wasn't the first time they had pulled something like this. "You have no place to tell _me_ how to do _my_ job," he pointed at them. They didn't flinch and met his accusation head-on. "Who do you three think you are? Barging in here and ordering me around?"

"Well," the first Observant challenged, "it certainly feels necessary when you let any desperate ghost sit on your throne!"

"That's not what I'm-" they cut Danny off.  
"Ancients... " The third Observant put a hand to his head in disbelief. "You're not even wearing your crown and ring?"

Danny tried again, "Yeah, because-!"

"King Phantom," the second Observant said gravely. "Are you neglecting the duties your swore to upholding during your coronation?"

"No, I-!"

"He most certainly is!" the third Observant continued to speak over him. "I knew we should've spent more time educating the half-human child!"

Danny's frustration caught in his throat, "You're not letting-!"

"If you won't take this seriously," the first Observant decided, "then we must take matters into our own hands."

He nearly screamed. "You don't even _have_ hands!"

As if they were one entity, the three Observants raised their hands together and stretched out towards Danny. Pink light engulfed them and suddenly he felt _wrong_. There was a tickle in his core as he felt the familiar tug of teleportation. Before he could attempt to fight against their forceful teleportation, the presence of his surroundings evaporated.

It didn't feel anything like individual teleportation; it was jarring and chaotic, he didn't have any control. And then, with a sharp jolt he appeared somewhere else, reentering reality. Disoriented, he surveyed his surroundings and almost had to clutch his head from the _hot_ pain. Someone somewhere screamed - _a girl_ \- and the pain and Danny's head gradually throbbed into a dull headache.

He was sitting on his throne. They had caused him to teleport onto his throne in front of Star and Elliot with no explanation. He saw that across his throne room, Star and Elliot were panicking, left stranded on the floor with Observants. Star was covering her mouth and shaking like a leaf and Elliot was frozen in place, paralyzed. "Fenton…?"

The Observants ignored the humans and turned to Danny knowingly, looking satisfied that he had taken his place on his throne. When the ghosts readverted their attention, Star and Elliot finally noticed that Danny had been transported onto the king's throne. He could sense their confusion and wanted nothing more than to slip into nothingness out of embarrassment, but he had to deal with the Observants first.

"Now, King Phantom," the first Observant spoke, "since you're so insistent on rebelling against your responsibilities, summon your crown and ring."

Danny stomped his foot down on his throne's platform, the impact resounding throughout the room. "  
"You're not letting me explain anything! I'm not rebelling and I don't need you three interfering with how _I_ do things." Their audacity was enough to send him over the edge and he felt his eyes burn cold with green. "Don't you _ever_ forcefully teleport me again. And get out of my throne room."

"We will not!" they spoke in unison. Danny's head itched with fury and he just wanted to rant at the Observants.  
_Why the hell not?_ Danny figured, _At this rate, Star and Elliot are already going to figure it out anyway, so I might as well give these one-eyed control freaks a piece of my mind._

Danny leaned forward in his throne. " _I_ am the king!" he seethed. "I've had enough of your accusations that I should be doing more! This is not your job, you don't have any authority over me!" Danny pondered what would scare them most, and grinned. "Now you will get your wet overly large eyeballs out of my face or I swear I'll cut the boundaries in your sector, again! "

The Observants gaped at Danny in terror, looking for any signs that he wasn't serious. Danny leaned back in his throne and gave them his best intimidating glare. He usually had trouble putting on a threatening face, but with what he had just said his lackluster scowl was enough to frighten the Observants. Star and Elliot didn't look _as_ scared as the Observants, but definitely disturbed… that wasn't going to be fun to resolve.

The Observants nodded timidly, "Yes, my king."

The second Observant nudged his companions and the three of them turned heel and fled from Pariah's Keep, not daring to further enrage the king. The throne room was still, even after they left. Neither Star nor Elliot dared to speak, regarding Danny with horror. Danny couldn't think of what to do either and sat rigidly in his throne. He couldn't tell if he was doing it or not, but suddenly the entire room felt colder.

"So…" Star broke the ice. "You _are_ the Ghost King?"

He hoped his duplicate would return with Desiree soon, because even though it was an awful idea, a wish _really_ sounded like a good solution right now. He had no clue how else he was going to get out of this one.


End file.
